Come for the Fashion, Stay for the Fun: STYLECABLE to Launch in DC with a Pop-Up Party

April 22, 2014

9:11 am

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Need some new clothes for the spring season? Tired of the hackneyed designs you’re finding in DC clothing retailers and department stores? Want to try on original pieces while getting treated to an open bar? Then come out to STYLECABLE’s pop-up shop and launch party this Wednesday night (tomorrow!). The DC-based startup is celebrating the launch of its online shopping platform, and will be featuring unique jewelry, handbags, and apparel from various emerging designers.

“As a former Foreign Service Officer, I used to travel to many far-off locales and my friends would always ask me where I bought something,” said founder and CEO Uyen Tang. “Unfortunately for them, it was usually from a small boutique, down a narrow alley, that only locals know about, somewhere halfway around the world. STYLECABLE helps women find unique pieces from designers that they normally wouldn’t be able to access because of distance or noise from so much that’s out there.”

Launched in November of last year, STYLECABLE offers an online shopping platform with curated pieces from emerging fashion designers. Through the website, users can browse and purchase unique accessories and apparel from designers across the country and abroad – all of which are carefully selected by the STYLECABLE team. All of this is to ensure that shoppers will find high-quality, original pieces that they won’t find anywhere else. “We are selective with who we choose to showcase on the site. We look for emerging designers who have a modern, edgy aesthetic. The ultimate questions we always ask are: Would I wear this? Would the cool women I know wear this?”

STYLECABLE is unique, though, in that it offers a pre-order function for select items. While some items on the platform can be purchased through the traditional click-and-purchase immediacy of a typical online shopping experience, the “Make It Mine” feature on the site is required for pieces that either 1) take some additional time to produce or 2) need assurance from STYLECABLE users that demand will match supply. In this way, shoppers are not only guaranteed a high-quality product, but also encouraged to share their STYLECABLE finds in an effort to have the pieces produced.

“Think of it as Kickstarter meets Etsy,” said Tang. “Emerging designers face the problem that they need demand and funds in order to go to their manufacturer and say, ‘I’d like to make this garment.’ However, most designers don’t have the up-front capital to produce the garments and it’s incredibly risky for them because what if demand doesn’t meet supply? Then, they have a lot of leftover inventory and potentially lost a lot of money. Our solution lets them match supply with demand. Once they have [enough] customers paying for a piece that they want, the designer can then go ahead and make it.”

The “Make It Mine” feature is also a testament to STYLECABLE’s regard for nascent designers, and apropos of the community that their platform hopes to build. Exploring the website, it’s easy to recognize the amount of effort the company puts into actually highlighting the designers behind each piece. Each designer on STYLECABLE has a comprehensive profile, where shoppers can read up on their biographies, go through their lookbooks, and even watch exclusive video interviews. “Beyond the designs, we enjoy working with designers who are entrepreneurs themselves. We always want to find someone with a good story who we believe in and who our followers would be interested in supporting. We admire all of our designers and are lucky to be working with such inspiring, strong women.”

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Ronald Barba was the previous managing editor of Tech.Co. His primary story interests include industry trends, consumer-facing apps/products, the startup lifestyle, business ethics, diversity in tech, and what-is-this-bullsh*t things.

Aside from writing about startups and entrepreneurship, Ronald is interested in ‘Doctor Who’, Murakami, ‘The Mindy Project’, and fried chicken. He is currently based in New York because he mistakenly studied philosophy in college and is now a “writer”. Tweet @RonaldPBarba.